Solomon’s Temple
1 SK054724 (Note that the Cat & Fiddle pub mid-way on this route is currently closed with no planned re-opening date.) From the corner of the road, walk into the park/ playing fields. Walk across the field then turn right to start climbing steeply up and over a stile into the woods. Ignore the path turning right and continue steeply uphill on a good clear path that takes you out onto open ground again, all the way up to Grinlow Tower, also known as Solomon’s Temple. Climb up into the tower for a great view of the weekend’s walking to come.
2 SK053717 Leave the tower behind you, turning north-westwards to descend more gently over rolling grassy hillside. Before you reach the woodland, turn left to walk with it on your right, cross a fence and continue until you meet the Dane Valley Way path which takes you through Grinlow Caravan Park then starts to curve south-west to meet Grinlow Road. Turn right to walk 150m along the roadside to meet the A53. Cross this and turn left, then immediately right, still on the Dane Valley Way up past the Terret Plantation to meet the A54.
3 SK028713 Turn left, still on the Dane Valley Way, to climb up (south) over Axe Edge Moor to meet a small road at Dane Head. Turn right then immediately left to continue on the footpath heading south over the River Dane then up over Cheeks Hill, meeting the Dane Valley Way again then leaving it within 200m to take the right fork to Orchard Farm. Carry straight on past the farm, go straight on at the footpath crossroads and descend sharply through a bumpy, tussocky grass field with a stream on your right. Cross it at the footbridge and continue following the river on its right, on a gritty, very rocky path all the way down to the stunning Panniers
Pool with its mini waterfalls, where you will wish it was summer for a dip!
4 SK009685 At Panniers Pool turn right up a narrow valley running northwards with a river on your right, again on the Dane Valley Way. Follow it all the way up to the A54, ignoring a fork to the left for Holt. Leave the Dane Valley Way to cross straight over the A54 and head north-west on a wide, easy bridleway rising over Danebower Hollow and down to the Cat & Fiddle pub.
5 SK001718 Turn left to walk along the side of the A537 for 200m before picking up the
track fork to the right. Turn right at the next opportunity to walk north-eastwards past Stake Farm below on your left. Turn right before the fence and descend steeply into Stake Clough, crossing the river and turning right through the woodland with the fence on your right, then descending steeply again to Deep Clough. Cross the footbridge, turn left to keep following a track past buildings to meet the edge of the woods. Turn left with the woods on your left, descending to the footbridge at Goytsclough Quarry.
6 SK013732 Turn right after crossing the footbridge and start to climb out of the valley below Goyt’s Moss with the river on your right. Cross another couple of rivers on route, and ignore a path fork to the right, keep heading east towards the corner of Burbage-edge Plantation. Keep following the path to head down to the southernmost corner of this woodland, then turn left alongside it to reach a track then the road back into Buxton. Cross the A53 and head east along Green Lane to where you parked.